PUTTING TRAINING TO WORK

Hello Neighbor. Glad you stopped by.

You never know what God is going to do.  Al had been working at the Buffalo Plant for almost four years, when he received word that they wanted him to return Monmouth. So we packed up again and headed East.  Once there we located an older farm house with a bit of land. This house was outside Monmouth Center where we lived before we moved to Buffalo.

The church that we found to attend was a few miles from our place. It was a very small country church with only a few older women who attended.  There was a need for more Sunday School activity and this is where I came in.  I had helped out in the Sunday School at the Monmouth Center Church and the little country church in the boonies while in Alden.  Now here there was not much of Sunday School at all.  So I started to put my training to use and get something going.  Eventually we attracted more people and some children.  Slowly the church began to grow and so did the Sunday School.  God had prepared me well and I was able to direct and teach and help others who would come along and help in the Sunday School.

We grew enough so that the church voted to borrow $5000.00 dollars from the association to add a building for social times and Sunday School classes.  It was an exciting time in the lives of the members of that little country church.  It is still meeting, the last we knew.  And praise to God for keeping that little church alive to minister to the few local members who attended.

We were there for about seven to eight years, when, again, Al was sent back to the Buffalo plant. This time we found a house much closer to the city.  We joined a church there and settled into a new church family.  And again, Sunday School drew me in.  This time, the S. S. Director showed me a room that had lots and lots of left over Sunday School material. He wanted to know what could be done with it.  I told him to let me take it home and I would figure something out..  With God's help, I went through all that material of all kinds, discarded some and sorted out others.  When I got through it all, I had to figure out what could be done with it.

First, I made a card index with the names of the different papers, such as Moses, Creation, etc. Then I made a cross reference index with the subject of the stroies, peace, love, sharing, loving, etc. Then God gave me the idea to write a curriculum which the teachers could use for lessons and with the help of the card index, they could find the resources that were available for their lessons. I still have that curriculum. A few of the teachers did use the outline.

After a few years, Al figured out that they were going to sell the plant and we would probably be sent back to Maine. By this time, Al had 25 years in the business and considered retiring. So he did.A friend of his had a tool rental business in Hallandale, FL. He suggested Al might be interested in managing the business. So we made a quick trip down and checked it out and decided we would like to give it a go.

By now I have had a few years of using the various training tools that God had given me and we would see what He has in store for us in Florida.

Stop by again  sometime and we will chat again.

MY SPIRITUAL TRAINING SESSION

Hello Neighbor. Thanks for stopping by.

So we packed and moved to Alden, N. Y. where we purchased a home on a suburban street not too far from Buffalo where Al would be working at the Buffalo Plant there.  Once we were all settled and kids were ready for school, we started to check the local churches to see which one we might decide to settle with.  There was a Methodist Church a few blocks from our house.   So we went to that one and learned that they, like so many other churches, were in need of people to help out in various needs.  I began to work with some of the youth there.

We met a couple that attended a small country Baptist Church out in the boonies, as we called it. They invited us to come out some Sunday and join them in their service.  So we did go and visit the church and enjoyed the fellowship and the sermon and the pastor.  We felt comfortable there. It brought up the question of whether we should stay where we were, where they needed people to help them or  to go to the little country church where we felt that we could get some spiritual growth.

It was a hard decision to make knowing how much we were needed at the Methodist Church, but we also knew that our own spiritual needs were important, too.  One morning after Al had gone to work and the kids had gone to school, I climbed back into bed and had a little talk with God. I told Him I need to know what to do. I knew once I had made a decision that was what God wanted, I would not have to have this up and down feeling anymore. So I asked God to help me to know what to do.

The names of Mary and Martha popped up in my mind. God does that. So I got up and got my Bible and went to check out the Scripture. (Luke 10: 38-42)  I read the Scripture, though I was already familiar with it, and the name Mary was impressed upon me to think about her and her position in the Scripture.  Mary was spending her time sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to what He was saying while Martha was busy, busy preparing a meal, etc.  Martha went to Jesus and complained to Him about Mary not helping in the preparation of the meal.  Jesus said to Martha, "Martha, Martha, you are troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."  So I looked at Mary and saw that she was spending her time with Jesus and listening to what He was saying.  This Scripture said to me that even though work is good and necessary, there are times when it is important for the soul to be fed so that one may obtain spiritual growth.  So right then and there, I had the answer.  I knew that we should attend the little Baptist Church.  I also knew that if the answer was the right one from God, I would not have any more up and down feelings about what to do.  So we made the change.

It was a good move and we did get spiritual growth.  Our oldest son, Scot, was baptized in a friends pond in their back yard with a cook out.  The rest of us were baptized at another church that had a place to be baptized.  It was a great experience for our spiritual growth. Especially for me. I remember that I fasted all that day, which I had never done before, because I wanted to make this time a special time in my spiritual life.

God was not through with me yet.  I felt in my heart that I needed to commit my life to Him.  But I was afraid that if I did that I could be sent off to Africa or someplace and I did not want to do that. Old Devil kept me thinking about that so I kept putting it off.  Then I suppose God began to slowly work in my heart and soon I realized that the Devil was the one that was keeping me from committing my life to Him.  I also realized that God probably would not do that as He already had given me a work to do.  A husband to be with and three children to raise up.  So I finally made the decision and Al and I both committed our lives to God in  a special service at our little church in the country.  So God had sent me to Alden, where He could do some special spiritual training in my soul.

Stop by again sometime and we'll have another chat.

GOD'S TRAINING TIME

Hello, Neighbor. Glad you stopped by.

Well, there we were close enough to a church that I could walk to it. So we began attending  this little church that sat at the cross roads. I also began going to the little Prayer Meeting that was held at a lady’s home up behind us.  I must confess it was a new experience for me.  I don’t remember there being a study or not, but I surely do remember how surprised I was when it was time to pray.  They all got down on their knees at their seat and prayed, and I admit that I just let it pass me by.  It took a while before I got up the nerve to say something.  I guess that shows that I was gaining some spiritual growing at that little church. 

There is one sermon that I really remember.   I really felt like the preacher was talking straight to me.  It was about making a commitment to be at church every Sunday.  So I told Al how the message impressed me and ever since we have always made a point to be in church on Sunday.  Of course there are times when traveling or other reasons prevent us from always being there.  But if nothing serious, we were there, all kit and caboodle of us.

Well after living in that small house along the side of the main road from Augusta to Lewiston where the traffic could be quite heavy at times, we decided that perhaps we should find another house to call home. There was not much space between the house and the road. One day I found our middle child riding his tricycle up the middle of the road. That settled that. This was not a very good place for three children to try to play outside. 

We found a nice two story old house right on Main Street in the next town up from Greene.  We found out later that other people had looked at this same property but no one got it.  I told them that God had it picked out for us and they didn’t have a chance.

Well, I think God brought us to this little town of Monmouth, where He was going to begin my training.  I was always a shy, introvert sort of person.  One of the first things I guess was to bring me outside of myself so that I could work and be around other people.  So I joined the Grange. This is an organization that was started many, many years ago. It’s main purpose was to keep up with the bills, etc. that were voted on by law makers, especially those that would affect the farmers.  I held a number of offices and one of them was called the Lecturer.  This was the person who would put on entertainment for the meetings.  Sometimes there would be visitors from other granges or maybe the State Grange. I guess I did alright getting up in front of a lot of people and putting on programs.  One year I was chosen as the Lecturer of the year for the whole State of Maine. We also started a Jr. Grange for the children.  I was elected to oversee the running of the Jr. Grange. Of course all three of our children were in it as well as many of the other town kids.  Again this was more training for me in being in charge and helping the Jr. Officers to do their obligations.

Just so this whole training experience won’t be too long, I will just mention some of the other areas that God had me take part in: Help the producer of a fund raiser program for the Lions Club who sponsored the Baseball team; the next year I was the producer of the program.  Then there was the Cub Scouts of which I was a den mother; and I organized the Bi-centennial  parade for our town.

All these various “jobs” taught me many things about organizing, planning programs, directing others, and just bringing me out of myself.  Just to be able to stand in front of a large group of people and do “my thing”.  I still am a non-social person.  I do not like social affairs where people just sort of stand or sit around and talk, but let me get up in front of a large group and do “my thing” I am ready to go.

Well, then came the day when Al got word that the company wanted to send him to the Buffalo,  N.Y. to work there. So another move was on the way. And another new training session with God.  (to be cont.)

Stop by again and we'll have another chat.